I read the post and the postings at the link and I can't help noticing some weird twists in the reasoning.

-1- It appears that some sailors invent some movement of "goal posts" in order to give more weight to their (emotional) opinion. This is not very convincing guys !

-2- Then there seems to be the pfenomemon of inventing problems and then attributing it too the F18 class. I gives as example "One current example of the F18 rule problems are the new STX sails used at the F18 Worlds this year". This is simply not a problem under F18 rules. The problem only arises in the Hobie tiger class where earlier limits have forced everybody to pre-STX sails. This is classic example of a rule that gives rise to problems rather then solving them. Please read on to point 3

-3- There also seems to be the believe that strict rules on sail design make racing more fair. How many times has this been disproven in ohhh A-cat class, Tornado class, F18 class and a host of other classes. It seems that rather having such strict rules leads to unfairness; it has a build in unfairness when a decision is made to allow a new design to replace the (enforced) outdated design. If the class had allowed the sail to gradually improve with each year their wouldn't be such a sharp inequality, only small ones. Which of the two is more fair ?

-4- There also seem to be a believe that having a NEW sail design is magical. How many times I've seen the better crew with standard sails win is beyond counting. Top of the line gear helps but only for about 1 % overall. The other 99 % is still very much sailor related. Afterall, who were sailing with the special new cloth at the olympics ? and did these 3 crews end up in the final results. What was the Olympic champion using ? I rest my case. Ohh one more thing we saw the very same thing the the past ICCT.

-5- Then I notes a persistant, yet unfounded, habit to call any allowance for freedom an arms race and suggest that this "actually turns off many sailors". Mr Miller I'm not sure if you have noticed by the F18 worlds have no attracted about 150 boats and 300 crews (cut-oof limits) for several years in a row now and thus well in excess of the Tiger worlds. If such an F18 arms race is turns many sailors off then by God where do these 150 crews come from and those uncounted crews that were turned away failing to qualify. F18 is THEY succes story in catamaran racing since the Hobie 16's and now some tigers want us to believe that F18 is on its last legs due to "the arms race?"

-6- Then some more fairytail claims : "Closed Class events or manufacturer events are COMPLETELY the norm in sailing". Humm last time I check the catamaran scene was dominated by : Tornado (Open class event with open rules concerning sails), F18 (rest my case) , A-cats (an open class if there ever was one) and Hobie 16's (The only closed manufacture class of significance that is left).Then "let alone just about any other activity you can think of" Nascar = Open, Formula 1 = Open; Tennis = Open ; Golf = Open, Horse riding = open, Rowing = open; Skiing = open and so on and so on.

-7- "Hobie Tiger racing is strong World Wide… and a strong Hobie Tiger Class is good for F18 racing… not bad."
I think we discussed this claim before. Please forgive me when I give the latest installment.

2004 Dutch Championship Hobie : 22 H16's, 7 tigers (no big names what so ever), 2 FX-ones and that was it. (source : http://www.hobiehotnews.nl/uitslagen_nk_scheveningen.html )

And lets not forget to mention that 5 out of these 7 tigers WERE NOT TIGER OD COMPLIANT but rather were the F18 versions. The champion of the OD tiger class (only 2 boats) was determined with both boats scoring a DNC's in races 4 and 5. Only 3 out of 7 boat completed all of the 5 races


To pick just a fun distance race held around the same time : REM race 2004 => 17 tigers (with several big names) among 34 F18's. I'm sure the French and German Tigers do a little better but not by that much. The more this is looking like the mouse saying to elephant :"some loud noice we make, don't we ?". I know things are looking more impressive for you in US and AUS but even there F18 events are at least comparable in size if not larger. I maybe a big thing to accept but the F18 class couldn't care less what the Tiger class does or doesn't do. The impact on the F18 is neglectable no way how you look at it. Sure a good Tiger following could be good for the F18 class but this does not imply that a bad Tiger following is also bad for the F18 class. In some area's the one sidedness of this relationship is proven year after year.

I really don't understand the Tiger class. All your problems are of your own making; if you guys had just kept the Tiger as an F18 and organised for some Single manufacturer races than all these problems would never have existed. And if the arms race turns you off (unlike many others) than the Tiger design is simply not your thing. Stay with the Hobie 20, 18 or even Hobie 16. Don't give customers a false picture of what they can expect. F18 and strictly controlled Tiger OD racing using the same boat are an illusion. And as a matter of fact it was never anything different.

One more positive comment to Tiger sailors. Just sail your stock Tiger as good as you can and you may be surprised how competitive you can be. Get your head out of the boat, sail cleanly and forget about OD BS and scare tactics like arms races. On a spinnaker boat, skill and many hour of practice are more then ever the paths to high placings. Setting your kite 1 sec later than the competition and you will have dropped 10 mtrs back. This is often enough to let 1 or 2 boats pass you. 1 % extra boat speed is not going to make much difference if you consistantly need 1-3 seconds more per tack/gibe or hoist/drop.

Wouter